Morris tribune. [volume] (Morris, Minn.) 1880-2000, 1887-01-26
\ STRANGE FRENCH STORY.

The counsel Tor Ehe oe!ence hhd
j. pleaded insanity; How s6uld So
! 5tIange a crime, he asked, be other
wise explained.
t Among the reeds, near Chatou. two
II dead bodies had been found one morn
! ing with their arms twined about each
:. other=-a man and Weman-7both well.
J known tFsmbgfs 81 lashidrAi!ie s6s
ciety, rich, not young, and married
only the year before-the lady having
!, been three years widow.
J They Wet6 not known te HAYS he'd
/ any enemies-the bodies had not been
robbed. 1t appears that they had
both been stabbed with some long,
pointed instrument, and then flung
, from the bank into the river.
The Inquest has not brought ont
: fhy fresh lacts. The ooatmen OF the
nei2hb0rhood were questioned i'll vain,
and the authorities were on the point
OF abandoning the investigation when
q Young ca binetmaker OF the neighbour
ing village, named George Louis, and
nicknaHed lie Bourgeois, "vo luntari-
ly gave himself up as the murderer.
IN reply to various questions asked,
lie answered only this
II knew the man for two years; |
knew the wBmAh only for six months
rast. They used often come to get
he to jtetd cid ftrriituEe TOR theti; Be
tause am a good hand at the bust
ness:
And when they asked him:
'NNhat did you kill them for,"
He replied, obstinately: :.
II killed them because ] wanted to
xii! them"
I,0vhing further could be got out of
him. The man was of Legitimate
birth no doubt; as q child he had been
first left N the CAFE of paid nurse IN
the country, and hadteen subsequent
10 abandoned by his parents. Hehad
no other real name than George Lou
Is, but, rs he grew up, he proved to
be remarkably intelligent boy, with
naturally fine tastes ind good ifiah-
ners, and his comrades had, therefore,
hicknamed him "Tte Bourgeois" by
which name alone he becamG suisse
duently known. He. had the reputa-
ton of being remarkably skillful at
/ the trade OF cabinetmaker, which he
had adopted. He was even able to
do some wood carving He was also
said to be very excitable in his dispo-
sition-a believer in communistic and
also Nihili&tlc doctrines-a great read
! er of Sensational novels and tragical
Light literature; also d tnan Of some
+ Influence at elections, and a first-rate
stump orator at wOrkingmen's meet
! ings or political gatherings of farmers.
! The counsel for the defence had
pleaded insanity.
! How, indeed, was it possible that
this workman could have knowingly
killed his best customers-rich and
generous customers, as the prisoner
himself had NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS. who
had given him more than 8, 900 francs
worth of work to do in the last three
years there we're his books to prove
IT.? There was only one explanation
Notwithstanding insanity caus-
ed by the long haunting of one persist
ent ideN-the idea Of q dectasse, the
man who deems himself social out |
cast, and who avenges himself on two |
bourgeois of all the bourgeois. Here |
the lawyer made a skilitul allusion to |
the nickname Of LIE Bourgeois given by |
the country people to this founding, |
and be cried out:
as not the very name an irony, land I
an irony well calculated to intensity |
still more the nervous eXaltatiOn OF |
this fatherless and motherless boy? |
He is an ardent Republican. Nay!-
what do | say? He belongs to that |
very same political party which the
republic shot down or transported for
life in former days. but to which she
opens her welcoming arms to-day
the party of those with whom incen-
diaranism IS q principle, and muir.
der the most ordinary of political
methods.
"Those atrocious doctrines-public.
ly proclaimed to-day at mass meet
ings-are the cause of this mans ruin.
He heard Republicans-yes, he even
heard women, Women!-clamorfo for the
blood of NJ Gambetta, and for the
blood of NJ. Grevy-his ILL., balanced
mind capsiZed under the shock-a
thirst for blood came upon him-a
thirst for the blood OF the bourgeois!
at is not this man should be con-
demned-it is the Communal"
Murmurs ofapplause passed through
the courtroom. Every body felt that
the counsel for the defence had won
his case. The counsel for prosecution
did not even make an attempt to re-
ply:
Then the Judge put the Usual formal
question to the accused:
"Prisoner, do you wish to say any
thing further in your own behalf?"
The man got up. He was of low
stature and frail aspect, with fiaxen-
fair hair, and bright steady, gray eyes.
A powerful, frank and sonorous voice
burst from the chest of the slender
youth, and immediately-with the
utterance Of his very first words-he
entirely changed the opinion that the
audience had previously formed of
him.
He spoke loudly, and in declama- /
tory manner, but so clearly that
every syllable was plainly audible,
even at the further end of the vast
court room. 1
your Honor, as do not wish to
be placed in q madhouse, and as |
would prefer even the gullotine, am
going to tell you all about this affair. (
II killed that man and woman be-
cause they were my parents" {
"Now listen to me and judge me-" {
"a woman was secretly delivered of
3 son and sent him far away, some I
where, to a professional nurse. Did !
she even know whittier her accomplice
bore the little innocent creature-in I
locent, yet doomed to endless misery, /:
20 worse than to death, since he was {
abandoned, since the nurse, failing to +
receive the monthly stipend, might, '
rs nurses often do, let the child waste ]
away, suffer from hunger, die from |
IegIect? j
THE woman who nursed me
vas honest-more honest, more noble, !
more OF a woman, more OF I
mother than my Cwn mother. She {
brought me up. She erred in thus /
LONG her duty. Better far to leave r